"The State of Israel ... will ensure complete equality of social and political
rights of all its inhabitants irrespective of religion ... it will guarantee freedom
of religion and conscience." - May 1948)

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"The State of Israel is not a halachic state but rather is a nation-state of all the Jewish people. Many Jews are becoming alienated because they feel that the State of Israel does not respect the way they practice Judaism.”

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The following is an extract from the Supreme Court ruling on Hiddush’s petition on pluralistic military burials in Israel, handed down on August 8, 2019. The Court’s opinion was written by Justice Anat Baron with the consent of Justices Elron and Grosskopf.

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This week we started action on behalf of a former Haredi man who is serving in the IDF and faces discrimination, as well as on behalf of a school and a PTA who have confronted a zealous religious fundamentalist who is trying to tempt their students to "experience Judaism" his way.

Following Hiddush's demands: the IDF regulations regarding the burial of fallen soldiers have been changed. It is now possible to hold a military funeral without religious contents in a military cemetery and - secular military funerals in civil cemeteries.

A new Israeli study found that young women who served in the IDF reported an increase in their level of religious convictions, more so than those who served in National Service. 89% said that their religious levels were not harmed or even improved during their IDF service.

Once again, Hiddush is impacting on Israeli governmental policies, advancing religious freedom and equality. This time – it’s about a very painful and sensitive issue: burial of fallen soldiers. Last week we were informed of the acceptance of our demands (although we will have to follow the implementation, as we know from past experience…).

Turning to the Minister of Defense, Chief of Staff, Head of IDF Personnel, Judge Advocate, and Minister of Religious Services, Hiddush suggested that civil burial plots be designated within military cemeteries, in which full military funerals can be conducted, ungoverned by the Orthodox Rabbinate.

Director of Hiddush, Rabbi Uri Regev: "No more will women be excluded from the public sphere. We can no longer stand with those who promote the exclusion of women, the time has come to for a civil governmental coalition without those who exclude."

Debates rage on as discrimination of women and erasing them from public spheres continues, with disagreement between head of the Ministerial Committee on the Status of Women and Shas minister Mashulam Nahari

According to a survey by the Smith Institute for Hiddush, 89% of the Jewish public in Israel sees recent controversies over gender segregation in the streets of Mea Shearim and on bus lines as a distortion of Judaism (42%) or extremely unnecessary (47%).

Zamir's document described what he termed the Military Rabbinate's increasing influence at the expense of the Education Corps, as well as the harm being done to women's advancement in the army by the enforcement of strict rules of modesty demanded by the rabbis.